An autonomy-oriented response to EAP students’ learned helplessness in online classes

The construct of learned helplessness (LH) has recently gained attention in the field of second/foreign language learning. However, little is known about this emotion in online classes and also how it can be mitigated through pedagogical interventions. The present study intended to explore learned helplessness experienced by university students in online EAP (English for academic purposes) classes. In doing so, the Learned Helplessness Scale (Quinless & Nelson, Nursing Research, 37 (1), 11–15, 1988 ) was administered to 84 university students and 60 students were identified with LH characteristics. An autonomy-oriented intervention program was designed and implemented to minimize LH experienced in online classes. The results showed students’ LH was significantly reduced after the intervention. Moreover, the analysis of reflective journals by students provided a much more fine-tuned understanding of the processes through which students were able to mitigate their LH. The paper is concluded with pedagogical implications for university instructors to minimize this negative emotion in online EAP classes.